During my time spent here I attained a more practical experience building challenging and open-ended projects with broad and vague requirements while also learning new areas of the field. Some of the more interesting things I worked on included network traffic analysis software, a voting application using a distributed database, and a novel medical machine learning model.
I formed my foundations as a Computer Scientist and Engineer during my time at UC San Diego where I studied both Computer Science and Mathematics. I found that having a deeper mathematical background helped me reason through many of the more difficult upper level Computer Science courses I took making me both more well rounded and fundamentally sound as a computer scientist.
Throughout my time at Davis, I have been a member of the university's cybersecurity club. We participate in CTF challenges as well as both virtual and in-person blue team and red team competitions. Notable competitions we have competed in include the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) and the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC), which are considered the highest-level collegiate blue team and red team competitions, respectively.
Being an active team member has given me the opportunity to work with industry-standard networks and services. These events have provided hands-on experience configuring and maintaining essential services such as databases, Docker containers, web services, and networking protocols like DNS, SSH, and RDP. Additionally, these competitions offer real-world experience, as participants take on roles simulating penetration testers or IT employees.